Weakest Link
by the.Anathema
Summary: Sometimes the weakest link on their own can be the strongest link in the group. No matter how alone you feel, there's always someone out there just like you, so why do you continue to brush us aside? VinOC
1. Nightmares kept in a box

Aurora walked slowly down the sidewalk, slumping, with her hands shoved deep in her pockets. Sighing, she tilted her head back to look at the dark cloud covered sky. It would start raining soon. Shaking her head sadly, she looked at the ground, watching her sneaker sodden feet shuffle along the cold cement.

There was nothing left for her back there. The past was the past and she decided it was best to just forget about it. Steadily, drip by drip, rain filled the sky, playing kamikaze on its helpless victim below. She picked up her pace a bit. Seeing a shop's awning up ahead she ran under it and stood there wringing out the already soaked clothes she was wearing.

Aurora shook her head violently, in an effort to relieve her messy curls of the water droplets that clung helplessly to them. She sighed, heavily this time, then leaned against the shop window and muttered to herself about how stupid she was to have forgotten a jacket. Looking around her, she saw people emerging from houses and from around corners, dressed in their rain jackets and fleece vests, topped with outlandish hats and ridiculous umbrellas. Rain always brought the people out.

Just moments before the rain had started the street had been nigh empty. Now it was bustling with these oddly dressed people. All solitary calmness left the area as the din of voices grew louder with each passing minute. Pushing herself off the now steamy window she had been leaning against, she walked away and disappeared into the lively crowd, reminiscing about the past few days.

Life had always been hard for her. Her parents divorced when she was eight and she was forced to live with her mother. Her mother never allowed her to see her father, or her father to see her, claiming that he was an irresponsible drunkard and an abuser, completely unworthy of that privilege. But she hated her mother. She would rather be with a father she had only known for four years, who actually treated her with respect and dignity, instead of her mother. Sadly, she wasn't able to get away from her mother… until now that is. After nine long years of suffering under her mother's ever-watching eye, she was finally free.

The previous night her mom had been drinking again, but this time more so than the others. Her most recent boyfriend had just broke up with her earlier on that day, saying that she was a cheating whore going behind his back and sleeping with other men. Of course she refuted that fact and stomped off yelling obscenities at anyone who even looked at her as what she deemed wrong; and that was everybody. When she got home she went into a fit of rage, stalking around the small two roomed apartment, throwing everything to the floor: glass, dishes, pictures, and furniture. After her bout of rage was finished, she grabbed her purse and left the apartment, slamming the door off its hinges.

It had been a Friday, a nice sunny day with no clouds in the sky. Aurora thought that maybe, just maybe, it would be a good day and nothing would go wrong like it usually did. But of course it was her life, so what exactly could go right. Her whole life had been miserable. At least the part of her life she could remember, and that was only these last nine years; years that she liked to call Hell.

No one had been nice to her ever since she could remember which was after she turned eight. Kids always made fun of the way she looked, how she talked, or how her mom was a whore, and how she had no dad. She'd end up running home from school crying everyday. They drove her part of the way into her depression; the other part was her mother. Her mother had the audacity to tear down good, moral people for the little things that they did, and here she was a drunkard who traveled from boyfriend to boyfriend within a matter of days. It's a wonder they could even put up with her for those few days.

It was always the same routine. Marcia, Aurora's mom, would go out at night, probably out to a bar, find some poor bastard, drunk off his ass, she'd seduce him, bring him back to our apartment, then, to put it in nicer terms, sleep with him; though it didn't help Aurora to sleep at all. Then Marcia would take his wallet and all the money that he had, hide it and pretend like nothing happened. It was pathetic really, the frivolous things that that woman would go through just to get money, instead of going out, like any other normal person, and getting a job.

Aurora clomped up the stairs leading to her fifth story apartment she shared with her mother. She jingled the keys in her hand and reached for the door. Noticing something awry she approached the entry cautiously and pushed ever so gently on the door. It moaned as it swung open partially before falling on the floor with a 'thud!' She stepped into the once immaculate apartment appalled at what awaited her.

She looked around the room to see picture frames with broken glass, shattered cups, overturned furniture, a broken table, most of our dishes smashed on the kitchen floor and papers strewn across the entire room.

Groaning, she started cleaning up the mess, placing everything back where it used to be; cleaning up the glass, up righting the furniture, and putting the door back up on its hinges.

She was just dumping the rest of the fragmented glass into the garbage when her mom came home. She swaggered into the kitchen/living area, bottles in hand, and starts yelling at her, blaming her for everything that had gone wrong in her life. She began cursing and throwing things again as soon as she opened her mouth to retort. She shied away from the attacks, tossing her arms up around her face in defense. Backing herself into a corner just made her more vulnerable to the strikes, so she sank to her knees. The strikes slowly let up, and she doggedly brought her arms down from her head to look up at the woman she called mother. Her heart pounded out of her chest as she watched the glass bottle come down toward her face…


	2. Metallic Hues so Evanescent

That had been last night. She remembered waking up on the kitchen floor surrounded by broken glass and blood dripping down her face.

Aurora didn't understand why she had been put in this life. She hated her life and yet she continued living; but why? _For what? To get beat everyday by a person that I used to call mother? _

_-flashback-_

She groaned as she pushed herself up off the floor, grimacing as her head began to pound furiously. Her sight swam, blurring the edges of her vision and melting all the objects into one big blob of color. Shaking fingers rubbed at her eyes then pinched the bridge of her nose willing away the headache that had come on full force when she stood upright.

Purple orbs blinked futilely chasing away the light. Heavy feet stumbled across the carpeted floor over to the bathroom sink. Aurora turned the cold water on and dipped her hands into its chilly stream. Shivers ran up her spine at the contact with something so cold. She stood up straight and looked into the mirror hanging in front of her. Her haggard appearance look back at her disdainfully. Dull eyes with bags under them, scraggly hair that fell infront of her eyes, andherlips drawn tight in a frown.

She looked down casting about for a brush with which to fix her silver locks. Not finding one she huffed and walked back out into the living area. There was her mother, sitting on the couch, surrounded by empty whiskey bottles. Sparks of hatred ran through her being as she stared as this loathesome creature sprawled across the couch. She had had enough! No longer would she succomb to the routine beatings! No longer would she stand living in this life!

Aurora strode over to the kitchen, pulling out a butchers knife from a random drawer. She turned the knife over fondly in her hands, allowing the light to catch on it, sending off a metallic hue into the unlit living area. She grasped the handle tightly with her right hand, her violet eyes taking a malicious glint. Quickly she walked back into the bathroom and turned on the shower, making sure that there was enough noise on that side of the apartment so that the neighbors wouldnt hear anything.

Aurora trudgedslowly towards her mothers motionless body. She positioned the knife right above her heart and let her hand fall swiftly. A surprised cry came from her mothers mouth as her eyes opened wide.

Aurora pulled the blood covered blade out of her mothers chest and let it strike again. Again and again she skewered her mothers body. With each strike her eyes grew colder. Finally she noticed that the anathema was dead. She had killed her. A smirk washed over her face and her mouth parted, letting her maniacal laughter fill the room.

She picked herself up and went into the bathroom. Stripping from her bloodsoaked clothes, she hopped into the shower, letting the water wash away the crimson trails that snaked their way across her skin. _I have to get out of here. There's no place to go though. sigh I guess I'll just have to live on the streets for now._

Her essence cleaned of the crime just committed, she turned off the water and dried herself off. Nimbly she walked to her room, avoiding the blood that smeared the carpet. There she dressed into her favorite clothes: tight black pants and a longsleeve black shirt.

Done with her deed, Aurora glided out of the apartment complex and down the street into the darkness of the cloudy night.

_-end flashback-_

The rain still trickled down from the sky, gracing Aurora's face as she sat on the park bench, waiting for night to come, when she would make her escape. The rain slowly died down into a mist, and the mist into nothingness.


	3. Stupid Mutant Chickens From Outer Space

Sunlight crept over the horizon, setting the sky ablaze in early morning hues. Birds chirped cheerfully on the brand new day. Dew sparkled with renew vigor and the morning breeze blew in cool air to ruffle the silver tresses that caressed the young woman's face.

Aurora blink open her violet eyes as the sun made itself known in the eastern sky. Yawning she sat up cracking her sore back. The meadow she was in boasted it's spring flowers to anyone who took the time to discover them.

_Wait! Flowers? There's no flowers in Aritachi Park. _

She snapped to attention, jumping to her feet and took in her surroundings more carefully. There was no longer a trail or a park bench anywhere in site. Then, where was she, she wondered.

Anger rose from the base of her spine as her assumption was made clear to her mind. _Somebody moved me. And whoever did is going to die!_

Her eyes glinted maliciously as she stomped her feet in resolution. Huffing loudly, she turned on her heel, crossed her arms and strode out of the meadow as quietly as an angered person could.

There had to be an explanation. She had now been walking straight ahead, to where she thought the park would end, but she hadn't found any signs of the forest ever stopping. Aurora faltered slightly in her steps as she tripped over another root so kindly placed in the way of her delicate feet. She shrieked in anger at the protruding object and kicked it as hard as she possibly could. This proved to be a really stupid move for her, since she began hopping around on one foot, grasping the toes of her other and repeating 'Ow, ow, ow.'

She glowered at the tree that had caused this problem, cursing it for ever being born. _Are tree's born? Hm. I guess not. Oh what am I doing, I'm wasting time over a stupid tree. _Once more she glared heatedly at the tree then turned around and stomped off in the direction she had started in.

_Why me? Why is it always me! I always get lo-oost!_ Aurora whined to herself as she fought off the branches that seemed to like slapping her in the face. _The next thing that runs into me or slaps me in anyway is going to get its ass kicked! _

_-ding, dang, dung, dong, dong, dung, dang, dong. Dong, dong, dong.-_

_What the hell? _Wide eyed and curious Aurora poked her head through the trees in front of her to discover a… city!

"Finally! CIVILIZATION!" she ran as fast as her little legs could carry her, over to the front of the clock tower and kissed the base of it. "Oh sweet Mother of Jesus, I've never been so happy to see civilization before." With that she hugged the clock tower and turned around with a goofy smile on her face. Her smile fell as soon as she saw all the people, who had stopped what they were doing to watch what the girl was doing, looking at her strangely.

"What the hell do you think you're looking at?" she glared. A little girl ran up to Aurora with an ear-to-ear smile on and a flower in her hand. "What do you want kid."

"I j-just w-want-ed to b-b-ring you a f-f-flower. S-sorry." The little girl turned back around, eyes wide with crocodile tears, and her nose scrunched up above her frowning lips, and ran back to her mommy. Aurora looked after the little girl with sadness in her eyes.

_Serves you right kid. You wouldn't want to befriend me anyways. I'm a murderer. _

The surrounding people quit watching what Aurora was doing, much to her gratification. So she walked out of the square and down a street to what looked like a transport area. _Where the hell am i? This doesn't look like Tokushima. Look's like something from a game… or something._

The 'transport station' as she thought that it was, due to the sign out front with a little map on it, was merely a stable with these weird looking mutant chickens. One of them warked happily at her, as she approached the weird creature. Aurora jumped back, hand held at her chest, eyes wide. She thought her heart was going to explode out of her chest when that thing warked at her.

She glared at it questioningly, extending a finger, and began to poke it in the head. The things eyes rolled toward where she was poking it, and it warked again, but she ignored it and kept poking.

"What the hell are you? Some freaky mutant chicken from outer space? That's gotta be it. There's no other explanation for it." She poked it again, but this time in the chest area, or what looked like the chest. The thing warked loudly and snapped its beak at her hand.

"AHHH! What the fuck was that for you stupid mutant chicken!" she screamed at the mutant chicken, holding her finger to her chest, protecting it from getting bitten. A chuckle broke the so called silence that ensued.

"You know, Chocobo's don't like getting poked, especially Trixie here." Came a woman's voice from behind Aurora.

"A whositswhatsits?"

"Chocobo. The 'mutant chicken' you were yelling at. They really don't like it when people do that to the constantly. That's why Trixie tried to bite your finger off."

"Ohh, okay then. So what are these…. Uh… Chocubas for?"

"Chocobo, and you use them to transport you from place to place. You're not from around here are you?" the woman asked, curious as the where this silver haired person came from.

Aurora turned around to see who she was talking to. The girl in front of her was around her age, if a bit older, taller then her by a good four inches, had long brown hair (from what she could tell) tied back in a pony tail, and large, innocent green eyes. Aurora's eye twitched. She was wearing pink from head to toe.

"Excuse me? Are you going to answer my question?" the girl asked politely.

"Huh?" she snapped out of her daze. "Oh, yeah. No, I'm not from here. Hell, I don't even know where here is." She muttered the last part to herself. Fortunately for her, the girl in pink heard what she said.

"Oh. I'm surprised you wouldn't know. But you are in Rocket Town. And I'm Aeris Gainsborough by the way. What's your name?"

"Aurora." Simple, sweet and to the point.

"Well then, Aurora, since you aren't from around here, and probably don't know anybody, I could show you around the town if you want." Aeris asked sweetly, smiling as she did so.

_Rocket Town. I'm in fucking ROCKET TOWN! Then that means…. Oh God. Well, maybe. _Her brain ticked and a lightbulb lit over her head. She snapped her fingers. _I'm in Final Fantasy! This is fucking awesome! Yes!_

"That would be nice, but could I join your group, if it is possible?" she asked just as sweetly as Aeris.

"Um, well. I'd have to ask Cloud first." Aeris hesitated, then sighed. "But I guess you could." She looked a bit… miffed.

Aurora chuckled. _Aeris doesn't want me to come cuz she thinks I'll steal Cloud! OMG this is too good. _She laughed again,

"Aeris, don't look so distraught. It's not like I'm going to take Cloud away from you. God, what do you think I am? A man stealer? Hahaha."

"W-w-well…I… sorry…"

"No, don't apologize, there's no reason to. Just lead the way and…Hey! Stop that you mutant Cucabura!" Aurora slapped the beak of the Chocobo as it nipped at her clothes. Aeris just stood there sweatdropping. '_oh brother..'_ was all Aeris could think.

"Um. Alrighty then. Follow me, right this way. So, do you know how to fight then? Cuz if you really want to join our group your going to have to provide help in some way."

"Oh, yeah. I can use guns, swords, daggers, staffs, hand-to-hand. I can cook, clean, and do anything else you want me to too." Aurora stated absentmindedly, running her fingers along the edge of a dagger she had pulled from her boot.

"Right. That's perfect then. I don't see why Cloud wouldn't let you join us. All you have to do now is meet the rest of the gang." She replied happily, skipping up the steps of the local inn.

"Hey guys! I want you to meet our newest recruit! Her name's…."

OoOoO

sorry guys.. my parents are making me get off the computer now. so I'll update as soon as possible! til then  
ciao!


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